Dubai SME, the agency of the Department of Economic Development, DED, in Dubai, mandated to develop the Small and Medium Enterprise, SME, sector, in conjunction with the Dubai Statistics Centre, released a new study on the local SME sector as part of Dubai SME Development Plan, SMDP, which is part of the Dubai Plan 2021.

The study was released in conjunction with the World SME Day, which was celebrated on June 27th this year.

Underlining the role and importance of the SME sector in the overall economy in Dubai, the study, which was initiated during the first quarter of 2018, showed that SMEs continue to create a significant number of job opportunities and add [...]

The health of the UAE’s non-oil private sector improved to the greatest extent in the year-to-date, buoyed by strong inflows of new business and output growth. Promotional activity helped to stimulate client demand, reflected by new order books expanding at the fastest pace since December last year. Despite firms ramping up output, backlogs of work built up at a record pace. Meanwhile, input price inflation further softened from the peak seen in January.

The survey, sponsored by Emirates NBD and produced by IHS Markit, contains original data collected from a monthly survey of business conditions in the UAE non-oil private sector.

Commenting on the UAE PMI® survey, [...]

Dubai Statistics Center (DSC) has revealed that Dubai’s real gross domestic product (GDP) reached AED 389 billion in 2017 compared to AED 379 billion in 2016.

According to DSC, the growth was fueled by the performance of strategic sectors that accounted for 72.2% of total growth in 2017. The transportation and storage sector was the biggest contributor to total economic growth at 18.5%, surpassing wholesale and retail trade, traditionally the largest sector in the emirate. The wholesale and retail trade sector’s contribution to growth stood at 8.3%.

Wholesale and Retail Trade

Arif Al Mehairi, Executive Director of the Dubai Statistics Center, stated: “Wholesale [...]

Despite softening slightly in September, growth in the UAE’s non-oil private sector remained sharp and marked the strongest quarter recorded for two years. The latest improvement in business conditions was driven by above-average expansions in both output and new orders. That said, new business from abroad slipped back to contraction, indicating that the recovery was driven by domestic demand. On the price front, output charges fell, whilst input price inflation softened to a four-month low.

The survey, sponsored by Emirates NBD and produced by IHS Markit, contains original data collected from a monthly survey of business conditions in the UAE non-oil private [...]